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Labor Day Week Cruise on the Carnival Glory

Sail Date:
September 2013

Destination:
Canada & New England

Embarkation:
New York (Manhattan)

Labor Day Week Cruise on the Carnival Glory

In July it was time for my wife and I to decide where to go for our annual trip to celebrate our wedding anniversary. After looking at several options we decided on this cruise since it was one of the few itineraries that did not include a port call in Boston a city we have visited on two other vacations to New England. To get to New York's Manhattan Passenger Ship Terminal instead of driving we found the best option would be to park our car in Wilmington, DE and take a Greyhound bus to New York which is what we did on the morning of September 2. Since it was a holiday and the traffic was light we arrived at the Port Authority Bus Terminal right on time at 10:15 AM took one of the fastest cab rides I have ever had in New York arriving at the passenger ship terminal by 10:30 AM after leaving our luggage with a porter we made out way to security and check in where we were assigned to boarding group two and received or sail and sign More
cards where we found due to changes to Carnival's loyalty program we were moved from gold to read status . Boarding began at 11:15 Am and by 11:45 AM we were on board the Glory and made out way up to the Lido Deck for lunch. The buffet on the Lido Deck had a Guy's Burger Joint and a Blue Iguana Cantina (both are Fun Ship 2.0 enhancements) which were located out side near the main pool. In side there were the buffet which had two lines one for Italian and other ethnic foods one for comfort foods or home cooking. On Deck 10 there was a buffet serving seafood and by the aft pool is the 24 hour Pizza. The only option that was missing was Asian which was not available on this ship. Nor was there a Sushi bar replaced by another Fun Ship enhancement called the Taste Bar. For lunch I tried one of the Cheese Burgers form Guys Burger Place which I had without the sauce and I chose to add my own toppings from their topping bar which had every topping option available. The fries were quite good. I then went and bought my bottomless bubbles so I could have unlimited soda. The view from Deck was not that good due to cloud's and fog that limited visibility on the river. At 1:30 PM I checked to see if our cabin was ready but it was not ready at the same time it started to rain lightly. At 2:00 PM our room was ready and we dropped off our carry on bags or luggage was not delivered to our room until 3:30 PM which was when the mandatory safety briefing started we found our muster station to be rather cramped as we did find the rest of the ship to be cramped. At 3:50 PM the starboard side was released from the drill followed by our side when we got up to the Lido deck we found that the Glory was pulling away from the dock. We stayed on deck and took pictures as we sailed past the Manhattan sky line seeing such sites as 1 World Trade Center, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty and just being able to sail under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. We then went to our cabin to unpack the cabin had plenty of storage space and the in room safe was easier to use than on Royal Caribbean. But the cabin was much smaller than on Royal Caribbean and early in the morning was very stuffy. At 6:00 PM I went back on deck and we had made our way out of New York Harbor to the point where our pilot was picked up by his launch which dropped him off at a larger boat that was near by. After unpacking we went to the Photo Gallery to check out our gangway shots which we decided not to purchase. We then went and checked the dinner menu and had dinner. The service in the dinning room was good but we have found that the quality of the food to be not as good as on previous cruises on Carnival we also discovered that the menus are the same as we had on our first two cruises on Carnival in 2011. After dinner we checked out the ships on deck 5 and went to the 10:15 PM Welcome Aboard show hosted by our cruise director Matt. The show featured a teaser from the show Divas, some comedy by the Cruise Director the show ended with a little bit of stands up but we decided to leave the show early and since it was a long day to get some sleep.

Our second day was the first of two "Fun days at Sea" we woke up and got dresses and headed down the hall to the Lido Deck for breakfast. On our way to breakfast we font the ship was traveling through a heavy fog that stayed with the Glory all day with some lifting of the fog in the afternoon despite the fog the weather was warm. There was the same number of lines as at lunch with each section having a make your own Omelet station along with a dedicated line for those who did not want omelets and stations for those wanting a continental breakfast. Breakfast was about the same as on previous trips on Carnival. After, breakfast we went to the photo gallery and bought a couple of pictures we had taken at dinner the previous night. My wife decided to do some shopping in the fun shops while I attended the cruise director briefing Fun aboard and fun ashore which was a preview of the ports we would be visiting along with information about where the gangways would be. It was at this briefing that I found that the ship would be remaining on New York time and not changing over to Atlantic Time. As on the only other cruse I had where there was a time change the ships time and the local time were the same. After the cruise directors briefing I met my wife and headed to the Lido deck where my wife but some jewelry from the inch of gold sale. After make her purchase we went to the steak house on deck 10 for a wonderful cooking demonstration where the chefs prepared a starter, salad, main course and a desert. With each course the audience got a sample which was very generous. I would recommend this activity to any one who is interested in cooking or fine dining. After the demo we went and had a seafood lunch of fish and chips was quite good. After lunch my wife wanted to take a nap so I watched a free film on the in rooms TV which on the Glory are all flat-screens after within the movie I was going to go out for as walk I found a notice from the shore excursions desk where we found that our excursion to Hopewell Rocks was cancelled due to the tour not meeting the minimum number of participants. I talked with my wife and chose a replacement tour which I want and bought at the shore excursions desk. After taking a walk while my wife was napping. I returned to my cabin and we went to the afternoon tea and cake which was quite good. After tea it was time to start to get ready for Formal night after dressing. We went down to the promenade and had several formal pictures taken and then had dinner. After dinner we attended the Playlist productions show Motor City which was a wonderful production featuring Motown music. The only problem I have is that Carnival has reduced the number of dancers and has eliminated the live music during the show which made the shows much better however the new led back drops for the sets were out standing. After the show we went to the late night snacks which consisted of cookies, fruit and sandwiches. After our snack we went to bed as tomorrow would be the first of two consecutive port days.

After getting up and getting dresses I went out on deck just as we were docking at our 1st port of call which was St. John the wither started out as cool and foggy but the fog eventually lifted and we had nice sunny weather for the res t of our stay in St. John. After breakfast we left on the 1st part of our shore excursion which was a boat ride up the St. John river to see the reversing rapids which was ok as we were due to the currents we were not bale to get to close to the rapids. But we were able to get some nice pictures of the Carnival Glory. After the cruise we had plenty of free time so we walked into town bought some souverneers visited the Old City Market and the Kings Square bandstand. After having a beaver tale. We returned to the Glory to have a quick lunch and to change clothes as the weather has gotten warmer and sunnier. After lunch we visted the shops set up in a tent next door to the Marco Polo Cruise terminal which is just a short walk from the cities uptown business district. We then took the trolley tour of St. John which was quite interesting and we got a better view of the reversing rapids then we did from the boat ride in the morning. Once we returned to the ship terminal we returned with plenty of time to get to our cabin and up to the Lido deck to watch the sail away which was delayed as the last of the shore excision groups arrived about 5 minutes before sail away. While waiting the sail way we had some pizza which was quite good. We then wen to the photo gallery where we brought some of our pictures from formal night. We then had an early dinner and attended Hasbro the Game show. This show which is excusive to Carnival was terrific fund for all ages as the games were interactive and was great fun for both adults and the kids. After the show we returned to our cabin as the next day was anther day and anther port of call.

We awoke early and had breakfast. After breakfast we returned to our cabin and got our stuff and went up on to deck to watch our arrival at Halifax's historic pier 23 the day was sunny and seasonably cool. After docking we were able to get off and head to our shore excursion which was Top 10 Best of Halifax tour. Just beware this this is a very popular excursions where you will be on a motor coach with about 70 of your cruise mates. However since there were three section of the tour once the coach was loaded we were able to star the tour about 5 minutes late. The tour started with a photo stop at the Citadel which I whished was a visit to the Citadel as it is one of the most popular sites to visit in Halifax. After the Citadel we had a visit to the botanical gardens where we had an hour for lunch and shopping the tour then heads out to Peggy's Cove and Canada's most visited light house. When we arrived at Peggy's Cove it was cold and very windy and by the time we finished with our photos and souvenir shopping a light rain was falling which got heavier once got on the coach. The next stop was at Acadian Maple where we bought some maple syrup. The tour then made its way back in what was not a steady down pool to visit Fairview Lawn Cemetery where 121 of the victims of the Titanic disaster are buried we then med out way back to the ship at this point the rain stopped and the sun came out we then did some last shopping for souvenirs and then got back on the ship. My wife then took a nap while I watched the sail way. After sail way we went to the Photo Galley and bought our pictures from both St. John and Halifax. We then had dinner and saw the show Divas and had a late night snack it was time to turn in as we had one final "Fun Day at Sea".

We slept in late for our final fun day at see it was sunny with temps around 60 degrees and a very strong wind blowing. After dressing we got up and had Brunch at the Punch line Brunch which was brunch with a brief 5 minute comity show after a canned introduction from George Lopez. The food was excellent and was able to use our drink coups which we received in our cabin for being past cruises. After brunch we returned to our cabin to pack our bags since tomorrow would be debarkation day. After, packing we went to Lido deck for one last burger at Guys for me and some fish tacos for my wife. My wife then took a nap and I went and found a spot to read. At 4:00 Pm we brought our towels and found a couple of chairs to watch a movie on the big screen which was good for about an hour when the screen malfunctions so we decided to return to our cabin where we finished our packing and went to dinner, wen back to our cabin to place our bags out and attended the closing nigh show which was Latin Nights and was much better than the old variety show by the entertainment staff and some of the guests. Then we had one last late night snack and it was off to be since we would be heading home tomorrow.

After awaking and getting dressed I went up on deck just as we were approaching the Manhattan Cruise terminal where we arrived on time at 7:00 AM. After having breakfast we returned to our cabin to see that it was all ready cleaned and set for the next cruse even though we were told we could use the cabin until 8:30 AM. (I am assuming that the new occupant may have bought Carnivals Faster to the Sun option to get early access to the cabin and ship). At this point self assist debarkation began and we made our way to deck 5 to wait for the start of relaxed or zone debarkation by 9:00 AM zone debarkation began we were in zone 14 our zone was called around 10:00 AM and we proceeded to pick up our luggage gave our customs declaration and then proceeded to get a cab back to the bust terminal for our Greyhound Bus back home. Overall this was the worst of our three cruises on Carnival we are scheduled to take a three day cruise on Royal Caribbean in December from Singapore. Would we cruise on Carnival again we would if the cruse is going someplace we want to visit and the price is right. Less